“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is the greater than all the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches… The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
I think these two parables speak specifically to my issue—and an issue I think people struggle with all the time: where is the Kingdom? No matter what we do, no matter what strides we take, it seems like it doesn’t matter, the world seems as dark a place as when we began (if not darker). It kind of makes you want to throw up your hands, and just give up. But here, Jesus paints a very different picture.
Jesus says that the kingdom is like a mustard seed, and leaven. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a mustard seed…. But it’s tiny—very tiny. So much so that if you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t even notice it was there. I think that’s certainly not a coincidence. Jesus says here that if you weren’t paying attention, you would just write the kingdom off as nothing—something insignificant, something of no value whatsoever. But, He says, don’t discount it, because it might be small, and only noticeable to someone who’s really paying attention, but, he says, don’t think it’s insignificant.
We read over and over in the Bible that size does not mean significance. I think, in fact, that God loves to take the seemingly insignificant thing and use them to make the most significant of progresses. Look at the shepherd boy, harp-playing David! Or the stuttering Moses! Or the old man without an heir, Abraham. It’s all throughout Scripture—and I think those are all just a microcosm of the Kingdom of God.
It starts out small, but while it seems to be going nowhere, it’s actually picking up momentum. It’s growing—though invisible now, one day, it will be shown for what it actually is—a tree. Think about it: The seed is completely unnoticeable to the eye. And then what happens? It goes into the ground, where it is LITERALLY invisible! And yet, this is just the way God intended it. From here, it grows into a giant bush-like thing, so large that even birds can nest in its branches. It’s remarkable!
The second parable is exactly the same: Leaven is impossible to notice with the naked eye, but when placed inside of bread, and hidden, it begins to do its work. While it seems small and insignificant, even to the point of not knowing it is there (notice that the woman “hid” the leaven in the bread) turns out to be the very agent that changes the very composition and character of the bread itself.
The Kingdom of God works exactly in the opposite way of regular political changes. Rather than being loud, boisterous, and usurping its authority, it is hidden, quiet, meek, humble, just waiting for the day it will be revealed. The work is happening—even if no one notices.
The message of the Kingdom is one of a hidden Kingdom, one that no one really takes notice of, unless they are noticing. But that does not make it insignificant. It does not make it non-existent, it just is another way that God will prove to all of creation that He is much more wise than anyone else, and that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
A big problem for me, as a minister, and as an American, is that I like things fast, and I like them to be noticeable. I want to see the evidence of the Kingdom everywhere around me, and I want the world to look like heaven this very minute. I don’t think that’s a terrible thing—even Jesus prayed (and told us to as well) “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. But, I think the issue is that I don’t like the mustard seed/ leaven style of kingdom building. I like the imperialistic style of coming in and demanding, and overthrowing, and binding and loosing, and all sorts of upheaval. But that’s not really what the Kingdom of Heaven is about. The Kingdom of heaven is like a tiny mustard seed, which becomes a tree when God is ready. It is like a bit of leaven, hidden inside bread, which leavens the whole loaf after it has done its work.
Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Just because you don’t see the effects doesn’t make it insignificant. Just because the world looks barren, dark, and void, doesn’t mean God isn’t working. It doesn’t mean that the Kingdom isn’t rushing in and transforming all of creation—it just means that the Kingdom works in God’s timing.
Every moment that a life is transformed by the power of the Gospel, and people begin changing their mind about life, the Kingdom is rushing in and transforming the face of the world, though almost no one notices. Every time that a Christian feeds the hungry, binds the broken hearted, frees the captive, prays with the unloved and abused—well, these are glimpses of the Kingdom of God in its mustard seed-like state. These things we do—they are not insignificant. They are doing something. When we live out the life that Jesus has enabled us to live, we are perpetuating the Kingdom of God—hiding it inside the dough of society, waiting until God’s work begins to unravel in the hearts and lives of the people it touches (and remember, the yeast works all the way through the loaf!).
For the Kingdom of heaven, it is hidden in the hearts and minds of the believers, the ones willing to change their minds about the world, the ones who are willing to pray, and follow God, and begin to live their lives for that Kingdom. Things will get better—things will be transformed. Don’t be discouraged. It’s still just a mustard seed. It’s still just a bit of leaven.
I’ll close the way this chapter began—with another parable about the Kingdom:
Mark 4:26-27 The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
The question is not “Is the Kingdom here?” The kingdom is here—the question is: “Will you be a part of it?” It might be small, but it is significant. It will grow as God allows. Being human means being a part of the Kingdom—the return to normalcy, going back to what God intended. This means we have a responsibility. We have a mandate to spread the Good news of the Gospel—that the Kingdom of God is at hand. And then, we have to make it a priority not to get discouraged when the work seems insignificant and unimportant. When it seems to be nothingness, we have to praise God that He has enabled the mustard seed to grow into a great tree, and has enabled the yeast to work through the dough. And in this way, we can say with confidence: “God’s Kingdom is hidden now, but what glory the day it is revealed!”
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